Thoughts from 7/29/07

So over the course of this last week it's become quite apparent to me that it's time to write another blog. I had resolved that I would write yesterday evening after I got back from the 'Horse Canyon Expedition.' (which was a blast by the way, thank you everyone who came, or wanted to but was prevented by extenuating circumstances) Upon arriving home, I realized, when I tried and failed to unlock my apartment door with the keyless entry remote to my truck, that I was probably too tired to write anything substantial, and decided to put it off until this morning. Seeing as it is now said morning, and I've effectively slept through church, (not intentionally [and for those of you concerned about my salvation- I'll have you know that I intend to attend tonight]) I have nothing left but to write.

Ironically, I'm not entirely sure what to write about. Sometimes, especially after an extended trip into the middle of nowhere, I find myself overwhelmed by the exposure to God's excess creativity and feel inspired to create something myself. I find it odd that while I feel inspired by nature, I don't feel inclined to write about it. There are several ideas I've been tossing around inside of my head this past week that might be worth blogging about. Does the atrophy of linguistic fortitude contribute to, or does it reflect the decline of a culture? Why is every dietitian I've ever met overweight? I thought we bought our oil from OPEC… Through it all I hear Dr Frye's voice echoing in my head. "You need to focus John. You can't write a paper with five thesis statements." Good advice I'm sure… William P. Warford is hands down, my favorite columnist in the local paper. Just the other day his column featured "12 things to think about." (Or something like that. I don't have the time to go hunting through the local paper's ridiculous website) It was interesting, but it was a bit much. I think he was able to spend average of 3 sentences on each topic, and none of them were very profound. I really hope that journalism doesn't continue to follow the same trends as television. Would it be too much to think that people who actually read the paper have sufficient attention spans to spend more than two minutes reading an article? I suppose that's why articles are summarized in the first paragraph. Oh well, maybe I'm missing the point.

I'm still reading The Sound and the Fury. I really need to finish it so I can move on to the other books I have to read for my Fall classes. Even with most of the summer to prepare, I'm still not sure that taking 24 units and working full time is something I'm going to be able to pull off. I've heard rumors that it's been accomplished before though. I hope I'll still have some friends left when I reemerge around Christmas.

Anyway, Faulkner has been my first exposure to stream of consciousness. I suppose that's fitting though, since the advent of the genre has been attributed to him. Someone once told me that Ambrose Bierce actually beat him to it by a good fifty years or so. I also suppose Bell only invented the telephone because Edison was a lousy runner. I'll have to say that the whole entire lack-of-punctuation-thing is really interesting. I wonder if I can write my Faulkner paper in stream of consciousness. It's not likely, although I'm willing to bet that 90% of the response journals Dr. Frye receives will be.

I'm starving and need to wrap this up so I can get some food. I suppose the entire point of this blog should be that I need to blog more often. Maybe that will help me to focus more and make my blogs seem less like Faulkner novels. (although I doubt it will help my grammar and punctuation at all)